It takes just one look down the fairways at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead course to realize it takes exceptional talent to conquer this course. On a cool and windy day in Palm Harbor, Florida yesterday the 7340 yards that makes up the PGA Tour’s Transitions Championship host golf course looked even more daunting.
And the players know it.
The best golfers in the world looked like they were grinding before a major as they hit balls yesterday. They seemed to know that miss-struck shots with weak ball flights will be of little use this week if they plan to hoist a trophy on Sunday and grab the winning check of $972,000.
Defending champion Retief Goosen was not even on site yesterday but that didn’t mean he was not preparing for a title defence. He was busy prepping on his own and testing some new KBS iron shafts.
Goosen looks to be in top form heading into the 10th edition of this PGA Tour event. He already has multiple top-five finishes on tour this season and the difficult Copperhead layout (9th toughest on the PGA Tour in 2009) is a great fit for his cerebral style of play.
Not to be overlooked as a rival for Goosen this week will be The Prince, Ryo Ishikawa. Prior to dealing with the usual throng of Japanese media following his every move he put on a clinic at the range, striping ball after ball effectively and predictably into the burgeoning breeze. Playing on a Sponsor’s Exemption for the 2nd year in a row, Ishikawa won four events on the Japan Golf Tour in 2009. Unusually he finished only 71st at the Transitions in his first appearance but with a year under his belt he might have better plan for tackling the layout.
Overall there is a fairly impressive field teeing it up here this week. It includes 10 of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Rankings. World No. 2 Steve Stricker as well as Jim Furyk have games well suited to the course where steady play is very much rewarded.
Other highlights of the assembled field include Sean O’Hair, Vijay Singh, Stewart Cink, Luke Donald, and Kenny Perry. John Daly is also tipping it up but his random style of play is not the most conducive to winning on a course featuring tight, tree-lined fairways. The “anti-John Daly”, Justin Leonard, looked sharp and confident yesterday as well.
Padraig Harrington looked strong yesterday with all parts of his game. A t3 in Miami assures us he is in top form. He was his usual smiling self and apparently excited, for a number of reasons. Not only was he set to visit the White House today to meet President Obama, he also attended his first NHL hockey game last night.
In a week of firsts for Harrington, maybe it’s time for his first Transitions Championship as well.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Notes:
The Looks: Visit here to see a slideshow of practice range and tour van images captured Tuesday at The Transitions Championship.
Magnificent seven – Seven players have played in all nine Transitions Championships – John Huston, Billy Andrade, Brian Gay, Tim Herron, Lee Janzen, Billy Mayfair and Shaun Micheel. Only Gay and Janzen are scheduled to play in 2010.
The Shafts: Several players were seen testing the new higher spin True Temper steel prototype shafts yesterday. One who I spoke with said he wouldn’t consider putting the shafts in his irons this week due to the gusty conditions that are normally prevalent. As he said, “they just make the ball go up and up; great for some but just not for me.”
In The Vans: It was fairly slow around the equipment trucks yesterday. This far into the season many players have their gamer set dialled in. Of note was a new putter that Justin Rose was playing around with…but we promised not to say anything about it…yet.
A Beast: From the Black Tees, the 7340, par-71 Copperhead Course is rated at 76.8 with a slope of 144. There are elevation changes of up to 80 feet and more than 75 bunkers that protect the course.
This report provided to GolfWRX.com by Flagstick Golf Magazine (www.flagstick.com)
